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    Condor
    Condor
    Condor
    Ebook297 pages5 hours

    Condor

    By Sharon L Reddy

    ()

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    About this ebook

    There was something very odd about the world Belle. Rex Tucker had escaped it. He didn't know he had, until his captain warned him. He decided it was time Rex met an old friend.

    "Her name is Logic Osterman and the training is full time until she tells you her company bedroom is for company and she has some coming, probably a good half-year. She had one student, a woman, who got out of the company bedroom in one hundred seven days. If that wasn't exceptional, she wouldn't have told me. You'll like her. She plays a mean game of poker."

    He became Rhett Condorcet. No one in the founding family of Riley would give the same answer if asked why they all just began calling someone the Condor, but the world of Riley took note when they did. He had a home, a family and work he loved, but Belle was still looking for Rex Tucker. The beautiful redhead he'd been dreaming about for five years knew why.

    About books by Sharon L Reddy, reviewers said:

    recluse:
    "The author is a fine wordsmith who possesses a marvelous imagination."

    Raven's Reviews:
    "...unique, fast-paced style ...allows one to read almost as fast as one can think."
    "...romantic brain-candy... If you like almost any kind of men at all, you'll like hers..."

    Mistress of the Dark Path:
    "...you will also notice your mind is stimulated."
    "...designed for a more educated and worldly crowd."

    R. Cagle:
    "I got hooked immediately."

    Marji Holt:
    "The characters came out of the books and into my dreams."

    Twenty-four titles. Start your collection today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSharon L Reddy
    Release dateJun 6, 2011
    ISBN9781583385111
    Condor
    Author

    Sharon L Reddy

    I write science fiction romance, but it's the literary definition of romance. Swashbuckle, Baby, in "white tie and tails." High romantic fantasies, million word mysteries, family sagas, statesmen, gurus and wise immortals. Loving dads, sons and brothers, and of course, the women who understand and appreciate them. High fashion and landscape design. Materials and art, the books are built to be read very fast, specifically for the way women visualize. Research on the soap operas of the fifties, trends in international populist (fan) fiction, technological development, and above all, long-term entertainment value. It has to be good in reruns. The intent is create a body of work that's just fun to read, in spurts or bursts over decades. Ethics, responsibility, nobless oblige, the power of money, the use of prestige. I write good guys win. Period. They're fantasies for women. Men with lots of muscle say, "I love you," a lot.Most of what is currently published was written in the first decade, 1991-1999, before Mother Nature changed my personal definition of "mature audience." I hope you'll remain with me as I and my work mature and enjoy the second decade of my work now being published, as well.I've lived many places and visited far more. My current residence is on a high mesa in New Mexico, in the United States, where I am engaged in a habitat restoration project.Explanation of the Pilots Group:Some of these works have been sitting on my hard drive close to twenty years and they're no fun for anyone just sitting there. They're exactly what they've been titled, pilots, like for a TV series. It is my intent and hope that other writers will choose to continue the adventures of the characters. There are only three restrictions. Don't kill off my heroes, don't make good guys bad guys and give my story credit if you publish. Yes, you may publish and make money on your stories. I loved reading and writing fan fiction, but the limitations on it could be frustrating, so... Have fun with these works that specifically don't have them.

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      Book preview

      Condor - Sharon L Reddy

      Sharon L Reddy

      Condor

      ©2004, 2011

      Target Yonder

      Smashwords Edition

      ISBN 978-1-58338-

      Chapter One

      Rex sighed. She was doing it again. She'd wiped him out, watched him borrow to keep playing, and was now seeing to it he got most of his money back. He had no idea who the lady was, but playing five card stud with her was a very interesting experience. She played other games, but stud with a joker wild was her forte.

      Suddenly the young blond cutie just dropped out and they were four. She'd been losing fairly heavily, but not as much as he had been. Now he was beginning to pick up his stake. She wouldn't let him get it all back, just enough he could play someone who didn't totally confuse him. He watched as she 'went to work' on the techni. It wasn't long before the male technical person dropped out. His computer brain had told him she was going to gradually take his stake and he wasn't going to be able to prevent it. She didn't play a system. She just played and he had no idea when she was bluffing. None of them did.

      The tall, regal, woman in her eighties, who he thought of as 'the countess,' had expressed it well. She thought like a computer when she played against one, but played like Lady Luck was a personal friend. The countess smiled, said she'd decided four credits ahead was quite satisfactory and playing against the two of them was not going to increase it. The redhead, who totally fascinated him, smiled and told her she'd enjoyed it, then she smiled at him.

      What's the point? I'm down about two-fifty and it would be five and five in debt if you hadn't decided to be nice to me and let me take a few hands.

      I figured you'd leave and I like listening to that accent. Belle?

      Every other world works to avoid an accent. On Belle, educators work to make sure we have one. Belle is more successful. You can practically tell what neighborhood someone comes from by the accent. My twang is New Dravec and I'd change it if I could. You're the only person who's ever said they like listening to it. I can usually at least tell what world others are from by theirs. You're as accentless as a techni.

      I'm not sure whether that's an observation or a complaint.

      Lady, the only complaint I have about you is I've been running into you off and on for two standard years and I still don't know your name. That wouldn't bother me quite so much if you didn't make me feel like a fool kid, or keep appearing in my dreams. It's gotten so I wake up frustrated and irritable because you don't tell me in them either. The ship gang have started teasing me about it.

      You are a kid. You can't be more than about twenty-five.

      Seven and I've been on my own for about the last ten. You're not much older.

      Thank you for all the compliments.

      Did they win me enough of your time to buy you a drink?

      No, but enough for me to buy you one. No argument, please. After all, I will be using credits you brought with you to do it.

      And those of several others. You about wiped out the blond too.

      She'll have another five for a game tomorrow, tonight if she wants it. The person who spoils her thinks of it as pocket change. I'd be disgusted, but she absolutely adores her and probably still will in fifty years. A nice kid on the whole, even if her main work in life is being decorative.

      Does she know your name?

      No, and she doesn't know I know hers.

      I'm Rex Tucker?

      I'd tell you mine, but it's nice to have a pretty young man dreaming about me.

      Oh, the dreaming won't stop. I just won't wake aggravated that I wake up because 'hey you' has no place in the kind of dream I'm having.

      She laughed and he was delighted. It was rich and warm. He told himself developing an obsession for a woman because of the way she played cards was silly, again. He'd been telling himself that for more than a year. It had gotten to the point he went to every casino in every port where his ship docked looking for her.

      Please?

      Dreamer.

      Are you teasing me?

      No, that's my name. Or, more precisely, what I'm called. I don't use anything else most of the time. Two. He drinks whiskey on ice. Make it a good one. I'll have a Fralen brandy. Tredia Lomis if you've got it.

      You do like the good stuff.

      I always have, but it took me awhile to find out what it was.

      Dreamer, I'm not becoming less fascinated. Playing cards with you is a losing proposition period, but I've seen you drop a thousand at the wheel and not bat an eyelash.

      I play with play money. I enjoy winning. Losing doesn't bother me. If it did, I wouldn't play.

      And Lady Luck is a personal friend.

      She's no lady, but we do have an acquaintance of long standing. Thanks. Keep the change. Let's find a table which doesn't have cards, dice or a wheel on it, Rex.

      That way. They work at making them hard to find.

      Yes, sitting down at a table with a dealer standing at it does make one feel as if one should be playing. How nice, a private lounge just for the two of us. Why me?

      I beg your pardon?

      Why me? I'm not blind. I notice who you notice.

      Everybody.

      No, Rex, you see women. You notice men.

      I'd give you an answer if I had one. The way you play cards sounds pretty silly, but it's the only context I have. You're a complete mystery to me. I don't want it to stay that way. I don't know why you're quite different to me. You're a very beautiful woman, but that's only part of it. I never met anyone, man or woman, I couldn't get off my mind, before. It's been that way since the first time I saw you.

      I should probably finish this fast and disappear before you find out I'm not all that different from anyone else. Maybe you only think you want to solve your mystery. I'm a trader. There are a lot of us.

      The rest don't have eyes so pale blue one has to look close to decide they are blue, or red hair, or skin like dawn-blushed ivory. I don't usually notice women's bodies, other than that they have them, but I can't get the shape of yours out of my mind. It's taken me two years to get to really talk to you and I have no idea what to say.

      Say you want me to take you to my ship tonight if you're sure that's what you want.

      It is, but I've got two hours before I have to be aboard mine. That's not long enough to be with you.

      You're quite right. It isn't. See you at the card tables, pretty man. The invitation stands, but don't take me up on it if you don't plan on breakfast late the next afternoon.

      She smiled and walked away. Rex just watched her go. He really couldn't think of anything to say. He finished his drink and went back to the tables. He could probably win back most of his stake in two hours. He usually did win. He was good. He walked back to the table they'd left not long before and asked to join the three now there. The dealer smiled at him when he sat down and sighed.

      Lady Luck doesn't stay anyplace long.

      At least I found out her name this time. I might have learned more if I wasn't leaving in a couple hours.

      She gave you a name? You got more than the rest have.

      Rest?

      I've been asked who she is by a lot of men. Don't tell me. I tell them I think she may be Lady Luck herself. Same game. Same limits.

      Deal me in.

      Rex won a couple nice hands and left the casino about forty credits ahead. He went back to his ship and the gang asked him how he did. He told them he'd done terrific, but he hadn't won much. He grinned and told them he'd found out the woman's name. They laughed. He said she'd wiped him out, watched him get a loan, then let him get back part of his stake again, but this time everyone else had dropped out almost at once and he'd talked fast. Alan asked if that meant he wasn't going to wake up frustrated and grouchy. Rex grinned and said at least not because he didn't know her name.

      Garrett told Rex to get changed for work. The Proud Mary had picked up some new tech and they'd be installing it as soon as they hit translight. Rex groaned and said they always seemed to pick up tech to be installed when he was supposed to be off shift. He declined three offers to help him change and grinned. Garrett shook his head and headed for engineering.

      Alan trailed Rex to his quarters and watched him change. He had real questions about the woman he wanted to ask, but didn't quite know how. He'd known Rex for six years and the questions were ones he'd never thought he'd be asking him. Rex sat down beside him and cocked his head. Alan looked into his friend's big green eyes and tried to figure out how to start.

      She fascinates you.

      Yes.

      It worries me, Rex. It confuses me.

      It confuses me too. It surprised her that I wanted to buy her a drink and was determined to get her name.

      I feel like telling you to be careful because she's cast a spell on you. I know that's silly, but it's how I feel. I know you're not really interested in women, but this one is getting to you in a way I don't understand.

      Alan, we're friends. Your concern is noted and I thank you for it. She's a rather straight-forward person and asked me why I was interested. She'd noticed who I noticed. She's a trader, though I didn't learn of what or the name of her ship. Frankly, I didn't ask. We had a fast drink together and she left. I'm still interested in the way she plays cards, but not knowing her name was driving me crazy.

      That we all know. Rex, you're just too gorgeous for your own good and you know it. I know they're trying for the full spread of human genotypes on Belle, but I think they overdid it with you. Your light ash blonde hair and green eyes make you pretty distinctive. You get noticed by everyone. Most of them would like to figure out a way to get their hands on you. Add you can look at a piece of tech and figure out what it does and how to install it and you come up with too many people who'd like to find a way to get you... Just be careful.

      Are you... No, you're not jealous or you wouldn't like going out with me and making new friends.

      I wouldn't like most of the gang either. Your bed is about the most sought-after three square meters on this ship. Your ass is watched more than the bridge monitors. Garrett says he attempts to assign duties for which you don't have to bend over because all other work stops when you do.

      That sounds like Garrett. Alan, I'm good-looking and I know it, but I don't know why people all notice me. You know I don't. Besides, I'm usually in your bed, not mine. Translight warning. Got to go see what Garrett found for Proud Mary this time. I hope it's a new power consumption monitor. I've rebuilt the old one too many times. It's just not going to last much longer. I know the captain's been waiting for the price of the new Rorschad monitor to come down a bit, but we're about to lose the chance to look for a good price period.

      Your wish has been granted. Garrett yelled the cost of sitting in space, waiting for someone to notice we were overdue and send a tow, was going to be a lot more than the hundred fifty more dollars the captain was hoping the price would drop.

      Credits, Alan. We only call them 'dollars' on Belle. Walk and talk so I'm close when Garrett yells for me.

      Sometimes I miss Belle.

      So do I, but I know I'd be welcome for about twenty minutes, then someone would notice who I noticed and politely suggest I spend my vacation in Wrangle.

      Homosexuals aren't discriminated against, but Wrangle has semen collection facilities so our genetic material isn't 'wasted,' and as long as you go to one of them once every thirty days, you're welcome.

      I was shoved at girls from the time I was twelve until I was old enough to run for Wrangle. You got me out of there. I'd been there just long enough to know I didn't want to be there.

      You'd been there just long enough to find out that every male wanted your sweet young ass and some of them didn't plan on taking no for an answer much longer.

      Yeah. I suddenly lost my job and couldn't find another. Someone with big money thought I should be friendly for a living. That's when I learned to play cards. It didn't take me long to discover I suddenly couldn't find a game, just about as long as it took someone to figure out I was good enough to feed and house myself. You and the Proud Mary were the answer to a very fervent prayer.

      I heard that slimy... person tell you there was a good life waiting for you if you'd just be a bit more cooperative and be nice to the right people. I knew who he was and how often he schedules men to be nice. The captain would have taken you on as a passenger and let you pay passage later to get you out of there and I knew it. The fact you're a high-tech maintenance engineer was a bonus. We needed one bad. Garrett was running on about two hours sleep a night for days on end, sometimes, but we had to find someone who could fit in on the Proud Mary. It sounds weird to say Wrangle was about the last place we expected to find someone, but I still miss Belle once in awhile.

      If you ever find the right person, you can go back and live wherever you want. Homosexual couples are welcome. One donation each when they're married and on anniversary date for five years is all that's asked and they won't chase you down if you don't. You become the nice couple next door and nobody pays any attention to the fact you're both men. Ooh, look at that gorgeous baby.

      Just in time, Rex. Let's get this done before the captain starts asking how long it's going to be before he can order a change in TL speed.

      Seven hours just for installation, Garrett.

      I told him twelve. He'll start asking in eight. It would be nice if I could tell him any time he was ready.

      Let's do it.

      They got the unit in and tested in just under eight. Garrett grinned widely when the captain called just as he switched the power monitor from test to online. He told him any time he was ready and Rex laughed. Garrett gave him a swat and told him to get cleaned up and get something to eat fast. His shift started in forty minutes and the captain would be down to look over their work in an hour.

      Rex groaned cheerfully and called the galley for a meal to be ready in ten minutes. Garrett was going to fall asleep as soon as he stopped moving. He'd worked his off shift getting the system ready for the new monitor.

      The captain arrived almost exactly at the time Garrett had said he would. Rex was a little surprised his first question was if he was going to need relief before his scheduled shift ended. He told him he'd yell for help if he started getting too groggy to watch the monitors. Then he realized the captain was worried about Garrett getting enough rest and it made more sense. They'd been married twenty-four years and he knew exactly how tired he'd been when he went to bed.

      Don't worry, Captain. I'll pour some caf down. I didn't think about the fact Garrett would want to be close the first time Ricky is on shift with the new equipment online. He needs a full sleep shift, so I'll make it.

      He went with me to look for that monitor before he started setting the power system to operate with it. He'd been going twenty-two hours straight when he staggered out of here. Don't tell him I said he's getting too old for that, but he is. You're going to leave Proud Mary soon, aren't you?

      Huh? Captain, the question surprised me.

      You're wasted on this ship. We all know it and you're beginning to get restless. There's not enough for you to do on her anymore. That monitor was the last piece of tech needed to make you very unbusy. It's a total waste of your talent and skill for you to spend every shift doing routine maintenance, watching monitors and drinking caf to stay awake. You also can't move up to chief engineer on the Mary. Garrett's married to the job, so to speak. I know you haven't been looking for another berth, Rex, and I know why. The question is do you.

      The Proud Mary is home to me, Captain.

      The Proud Mary is the only place you're sure everyone will take no for an answer and the gang are known and not a threat. That doesn't mean they leave you alone, just they don't make your life miserable. It's time you met a friend of mine on Riley. I thought it would get easier for you as you got older, but it hasn't. You're even more attractive now than you were six years ago. It's time you learned to really defend yourself. It's terrible for you to have to stay on the ship when we hit a new port, or go out with three or four of the gang until the locals get to know you and start keeping an eye out you don't get hassled. My friend is the best teacher there is, even if she does say she's too old for it anymore. She hasn't taken on a new student in about ten years, but she's willing to teach you if you want to learn. Decide if you'd like to be able to go where you want when you want and be able to deal with anyone who doesn't listen when you say no yourself, before we get there. Bill really wants to work in engineering and can learn the routine maintenance. I can find another general maintenance tech to replace him fairly easily. We needed you desperately when you were hired, but the Frazier contract has paid enough to replace the equipment that kept you working full time to keep the Mary running. You need to get away from Alan too, Rex. He's never going to really look for the lifetime commitment he truly wants if you're around. He's too in love with you. So much in love, he gives you just the friendship you want and doesn't let you see it. Just one thing more. Don't go back to Belle. They let you get away once. They won't the next time.

      What?

      I don't know why they want you so badly. All I know is Belle gov offered the Mary a very nice contract right after you came aboard, too nice. They've been upping that too-nice every so often ever since. I also know they keep checking to see if you're still aboard. I think Wrangle was right where they wanted you and we thoroughly messed things up when Alan hustled you aboard twenty minutes before we left orbit and I said you were hired and get to work on the nav console.

      I... never donated, Captain. I'd only been in Wrangle eleven days. I'd have had to sign a contract to donate every fifteen days to get a license for what they wanted me to have as my only employment option. But that's... I mean they could have just asked.

      Maybe you should try to figure out why they didn't. Maybe you should try to figure out why you were pushed at girls. I'm sorry, Rex, but you needed to know before you got really restless and started looking for a good berth period. You need to make sure the berth isn't on a ship that has Belle planned as a first stop as soon as you sign on.

      Captain, thank you. I didn't know I was... a problem.

      Don't be silly, boy. You've spent six years taking care of the real problems on this ship. Compared to Garrett killing himself trying to do it all, or all of us dying because he couldn't, you have been no problem at all. Besides, I don't care much for Belle and never have. I don't think it's the business of any government who anybody loves and a person's genetic material belongs only to that person. Belle is the only world where there's a gov agency which suggests which boys and girls should meet and that male homosexuals donate. They've got a full-blown eugenics program running and they want you back for it. Her name is Logic Osterman and the training is full time until she tells you her company bedroom is for company and she has some coming, probably a good half-year. She had one student, a woman, who got out of the company bedroom in one hundred seven days. If that wasn't exceptional, she wouldn't have told me. You'll like her. She plays a mean game of poker.

      Chapter Two

      Logic looked over the young man her old friend Tidric brought to meet her. She indicated a seat at the table and pulled out a deck of cards. He suddenly grinned and asked for game, table stakes and limits. She told him if he didn't lose his ass, she'd teach him and handed him a stack of chips. She set out a great many more chips for herself. When the grin didn't fade, she knew she had a student.

      I learned for the same reason you need to, boy. I was a pretty little thing and once in awhile a big boy didn't listen when I said no. My teacher laid out two of them and told me he'd teach me if I didn't get any ideas. Since he was handing me his jacket to cover me in the back of an alley, I figured it was time I learned. I realized he was serious about the ideas just about the time I started getting them. Took me eight years to convince him to marry me. He was sure he was too old for me. I am too old for you.

      If you say so, Ma'am. I was taught not to disagree with my teachers.

      He'll do, Tidric. Tell Garrett I'm disappointed he didn't come visit.

      We'll be here three more days, Logic. He plans on a visit when he has time to sit down and gossip. Rex has one special friend he needs to spend some time with too. Day after tomorrow for dinner?

      You're trying to get me to say I'll fix jubilee stew. Won't work. I won't say it. That's what we'll have, but I won't say it. You need Rex back this evening?

      No

      Ma'am, he doesn't, but my best friend does. I need to give him a big piece of the next three days. We've got six years of a lot of shared to tell farewell. I care about him too much to just wave goodbye when the Mary leaves.

      Get a room at a nice hotel, Rex. Don't do it on the ship. Separate the time for him.

      Thank you. That's a good idea. Captain, would you please ask Alan to bring my ship bag and meet me at the restaurant of that hotel we passed about six blocks from here in about four hours?

      Yes, Rex, I'll tell him.

      They got to know one another over a pleasant game of poker. Logic liked him and he liked her. She saw what Tidric had been trying to explain about him. It wasn't really his looks that made him 'irresistible,' though he was about the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. There was something else. She didn't know what it was either, but she was one hundred thirty-seven and he gave her ideas. Then he told her the way she played reminded him of another woman and she laughed inside. He'd met Dreamer and she'd interested him.

      Rex smiled when he saw Alan sitting at the hotel bar. He watched a moment, then decided he'd go into the restaurant and order a drink. An attractive young man had been somewhat shyly trying to make Alan's acquaintance. He waited until the four hours he'd specified had passed, then asked the server to tell Alan he had arrived. Alan looked very surprised when he saw Rex

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